Absence of purchase centres will hit farmers: Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka

KHAMMAM: Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said that the TRS government will face the music if it closes farm produce purchase centres.

Addressing farmers at Nagulavancha in Chintakani mandal, Bhatti said that Congress is fighting for the continuation of Indira Kranthi Patham centres and other departmental purchase centres. He said that farmers will be subject to more distress in the absence of such centres.

He said that the style and mannerism of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao changed after his meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah. He said that Rao took a U-turn on the three farm laws after his Delhi tour and is worried to talk against the BJP-led Union government.

“Farmers who raised ‘sanna rakalu’ (fine rice) on the advice of the Chief Minister lost Rs10,000 per acre. There is no truth to his claim that Telangana peasants are happy with Rythu Bandhu. Not only paddy farmers but even those into turmeric, maize and red gram suffered substantial losses,” he said.

The Congress leader said many farmers wanted the government to provide loans at 25 paise interest, drip irrigation systems, seeds and fertilisers on subsidized rates instead of Rythu Bandhu. The farmers want only the minimum support price for their produce, he said.

“Nearly 37 lakh bank accounts of farmers are in shambles due to the haphazard loan-waiver implementation”, he said. Bhatti said that ministers from the district are resorting to corruption at every level. He said that the TRS government turned every department into money-spinners for themselves. He challenged the Chief Minister for a public debate on the debts that were made for Kaleshwaram irrigation project.

On the three farm laws, he said that the corporate sector will be benefited while farmers will lose out.